Steam & Excursion > Mikados Of The Illinois Central

This video combines a number of photos scanned from negatives and slides in my collection with a recording of I.C.R.R. Mike #1536 barking out of Woodbine, Iowa.  The recording is from the record "Sounds Of The Steam Locomotive, Volume One," originally released on the Folkways Records label.  All five records of the series are out there as digital downloads on Amazon and iTunes.

The photos are from Carbondale, DuQuoin, Centralia, Homewood and Freeport in Illinois, and also Paducah, Kentucky.  The photos end with #1518 in the Paducah dead line, and as she was in early 2015 when I stopped by an photographed her.  I hear she's been painted since.  I hope so!

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

Mary:  A great contribution to T.O.  The deadline photos are particularly haunting.  Thanks for posting.

Thank you Mary for the photos and the audio. I can't think of any kind of modern machinery that can make such a haunting, mournful, sound that stabs to the heart of your emotions as does a steam locomotive whistle. To quote an old friend of mine who grew up listing to steam powered trains passing though his town: "At night it would make you cry and miss your Mamma while you was a laying in your own bed".

Thanks again,
Charlie 

That's a great recording.  Never understood their whistles.  The three chime deep whistle is identical in every way with 1522's but the have sort of a minor note to them.    We had 2807s whistle on 1522 and it sounded different, plus had that squeal to it like some IC whistles did.
IC steam is great.

Mary   thank you for putting this together--it is excellent work.. I greatly enjoyed the sights and sounds  you have combined of the ICRR  I think I'l listen/watch it again. 

Doug Duncan
Lander, WY

Thanks all!

Don, I'm going to have to go into the files at some point.  We have plenty of footage of 1522 running with the 2807 whistle, including some pacing in the Cuba Sub.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

Thanks for putting this together.   Nothing says Illinois Central like the mikes.  Except for some of the branch lines, they ran everywhere on the IC.  They were the steam engines that I grew up with on the Charter line.   It is a real pity that only one of them was saved.

Great audio, you don't often get to hear the acceleration from slow to medium speed.   Didn't those mike's have the highest tractive effort of any 2-8-2's, around 82,000+?

tomstp Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great audio, you don't often get to hear the
> acceleration from slow to medium speed.   Didn't
> those mike's have the highest tractive effort of
> any 2-8-2's, around 82,000+?

The 2100's were the more powerful of the fleet, having been kitbashed with boilers from the Harriman Mikes and running gear from the 2900 class 2-10-2's that had donated their boilers to the 2500 class 4-8-2 program.  Also, I.C. used a different formula for calculating traction effort which, if I remember right, factored less heat loss in the steam in transmission to the cylinders.  I'm sure someone out there can expound or correct me on that.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

Yes the 2100's had  cylinders and frames from the 2-10-2's that were rebuilt into the 2500 series 4-8-2's.   It is hard, when you look at these monsters to realize that they began as Harriman mikes, the same as those on UP, the SP 700 series, as well as the Chicago and Alton mikes.  

I should have been specific in asking for corrections on I.C.'s formula for calculating traffic effort.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

elueck Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes the 2100's had  cylinders and frames from the
> 2-10-2's that were rebuilt into the 2500 series
> 4-8-2's.   It is hard, when you look at these
> monsters to realize that they began as Harriman
> mikes, the same as those on UP, the SP 700 series,
> as well as the Chicago and Alton mikes.  

The IC created some straight up beasts!. Imagine doing that to an MK5....yes there IS a story there.....

Yes the 2100's had  cylinders and frames from the 2-10-2's that were rebuilt into the 2500 series 4-8-2's.   It is hard, when you look at these monsters to realize that they began as Harriman mikes, the same as those on UP, the SP 700 series, as well as the Chicago and Alton mikes. I remember reading somewhere that IC figured their tractive effort at 90% of MAWP when most others did it at 85%, or something like that.

The 2100's were the  "big" engines on the Charter line through Bloomington.  The others were the 1500's there, and I would see the 900 series 2-8-0's onthe Bloomer line.   These are the steam locos that I remember from my childhood.

Former Mike? Last IC steam in the house at Markham?  Shot through an open window.

---

---

---

Very much a former Harriman Mike.  A number of 0-8-2 heavy switchers were created.  Also, a number of Mike boilers were mated with 2-10-2 frames to create 2-10-0's, also in the 3600 series.  These were also used as heavy switchers, as they tended to run out of steam on the road; the shallow fireboxes required over the rear drivers cut down on their ability to generate steam.

Not to be forgotten were a number of smaller Mikes on the roster created at various shops around the system from 2-8-0's in the teens.  These were in the 3700 through 3900 series.  There were also additional 2-8-2's in the 3960 series that came from subsidiary roads that were merged into the I.C.; the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific comes to mind.

All told, the I.C. totaled well over 500 2-8-2's on the roster at the peak of the fleet.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions